Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 2.djvu/138

 "A little before twelve o'clock all the inhabitants of the house resorted to my room, and an intimate friend of mine acted the ghost admirably well: Benumbing perfumes deprived the spectators of the proper use of their senses, and the landlord had previously been made unfit for investigation, by a powder mixed with his wine."

"The ghost appeared, or rather stepped forth, from behind a partition of paper, which I had contrived to make."

"When I asked why he had dared to disturb the tranquillity and the peace of the house, he answered, in a tremulous hollow accent, "Out of resentment against the female sex."

"On my farther inquiries, he related, in short answers, that, a century ago, the cruelty of a lady he had been in love with had driven him to despair, and hurried him into the rash